Imran Khan – PTI Chairman
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership is responsible for creating confusion and making the CPEC project controversial. Nawaz Sharif had announced on May 28, 2015 that the western route of the project would be built first. The prime minister has now deviated from his previous stance.
The federal government should begin work on the western route of the project passing through the underdeveloped areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan with all its services and facilities. It is the only way to remove the hurdles in the way of CPEC. The western route was 300 kilometres shorter and would cost lesser amount. The PML-N leadership had created misunderstanding about the different routes of economic corridor.
Nawaz Sharif was pursuing CPEC keeping in mind the 2018 general election. I am not against the interests of Punjab as we have won many seats from there, but we would not allow any injustice to other federating units.
*****
Syed Khurshid Shah – Opposition Leader in the National Assembly
Doubts over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project are being created due to the federal government’s incompetence and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will raise the issue in the Parliament.
The western route of CPEC project was to be completed first according to the plan given to China by the previous government of the PPP. Now the government is creating doubts over the mega project. Even the coalition parties besides those sitting on the opposition benches were expressing reservations on the route.
*****
Ahsan Iqbal – Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms
CPEC would prove a game changer and bring economic development and prosperity across the region. It would promote regional integration and provide regional connectivity among the Central Asian States, Middle East and West Asian region and benefit all the four provinces of Pakistan, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. This mega project could eliminate poverty and provide employment opportunities, particularly in remote areas of the country. The development projects related to the energy sector worth $35 billion would be completed under the economic corridor. Under CPEC, power project worth $11.5 billion was being completed in Sindh, while energy projects worth $7.1 billion were being completed in Sindh while energy projects worth $6.9 billion were being completed in Punjab.
For the first time Pakistan is going to become the geo-economic centre of the region. Priority is being given to energy projects and no discrimination is being carried out against any province.
*****
Rubab Mehdi H Rizvi – Rights Activist
Pakistan can’t afford another Kalabagh dam in the shape of CPEC. The dam failed to materialise due to opposition of three out of four provinces. There exists a serious threat to the CPEC mega project as declared by some national leaders shifting the route of CPEC to Punjab is equivalent to economic murder of Pashtun and Baloch people. We will resist this change to every possible extent. I do realise that there are several traitors working against the solidarity and integrity of the country.
It is important for the leadership to make CPEC successful in the larger interest of the country. It is unfortunate that when people of small provinces raise their voice for their rights they are labelled as traitors and misguided.
*****
Prof Dr Qais Aslam – Academician
Pakistani politicians are squabbling on the routes of CPEC although the Pakistan army is on board and rapidly helping in constructing and protecting the corridor. The governments and federative units of Pakistan are showing concerns about different aspects of the project and the route itself, so much so that the Chinese investors have joined the corpus of showing their apprehension towards investing in CPEC. What seems to be the issue is the lake of transparency on the part of the government and therefore leaving space for apprehensions and question marks by the opposition and other stake holders. Transparency and openness is important for the success of this project.
The western route, although built on a difficult terrain, is rightly going to be made first. On the one hand it connects Gwadar to the Silk Road and on the other it connects at least three of the provinces of Pakistan with each other, becoming the symbol of national unity and integration and also this is the route on which the majority of the poorest of the poor people of Pakistan live.